Backyard Blooms!

[scstill]

Pretty Linanthus from the other day.
So delicate, covers the ground.

[sluckey]

Very pretty! Wish that pic had been landscape orientation. If you get another chance...

[scstill]

That pic rotated and another natural landscape.
This is the first time I noticed this flower, so its kinda special
BTW - the green leaves in the pics that look like rosemary is sagebrush also know as "cowboy cologne"

[sluckey]

Duh! Rotate the pic. I'm stupid today.   

Added to my scstill background collection. Thanks.

[scstill]

Believe it or not, this is a rock. Its at least 8ft tall and only visible from this direction on the Lizards trail in the wilds above Laguna Beach. Typically, we are riding the opposite direction and hence never see it. But on this occasion we were hiking upstream. Trails are so different when you go the opposite direction.

[sluckey]

It's a little spooky!

[scstill]

The hooded orioles are back.
Rainy day sorry for the poor quality pic thru the window
Cool to catch one in flight though

[shooter]

Believe it or not, this is a rock.

lots of stuff like that in E Kty, I call 'em boulder'n rocks, a place to just chill, find a line, top out, which i've already found on your rock 
Pam gets a little grumpy when I found a line that kicked my butt, "Honey, just one more try and we can finish the hike, I know I can do this!"

[sluckey]

Bird flowers. Guess who?

[shooter]

hasn't snowed in near 2 weeks, nighttime temps ABOVE freezing going on 4 nights now!!!


couple dogwoods in 2 posts,

[shooter]

2nd

[sluckey]

Dogwoods are a sure sign of springtime. Down here they usually bloom about the last week of March. And Easter Sunday is soon to follow. And that means barefootin' after church to an Alabama country boy.   

[acheld]

Is this the longest thread ever?

Just curious.

The pictures are fabulous.   

[shooter]

 
i believe i've seem some over 10 pages


Not sure if ferns have flowers, I liked Botany but the words were all Greek so I didn't fare well 
looks like the photo-bombed ant has a companion in the stem 

[scstill]

I didn't know either

https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/beauty/ferns/what.shtml#:~:text=Similar%20to%20flowering%20plants%2C%20ferns,exemplified%20by%20the%20walking%20fern.

[PRR]

Is this the longest thread ever?

[scstill]

This one caught my eye today in Whiting Wilderness, SoCal.
Can't remember seeing it before. Not many around
Blood red bloom with a silvery white bulb and stalk. Not fully bloomed yet.
Very striking. At least 6ft tall. Known as cobweb or western thistle.
View shot has the thistle in the center. Both landscape and a nice one in portrait.
Thistles are invasive here.

[sluckey]

Bird flowers have bloomed. I think they may be blue berries!   

[sluckey]

This one caught my eye today in Whiting Wilderness, SoCal.

You sure do have some beautiful plants out there. Glad you have the opportunity to get out in the wilds to enjoy all that scenery. Keep'em coming. I'm saving all of them.

[dude]

Bird flowers have bloomed. I think they may be blue berries!   

Robbin flowers

[PRR]

Thistles are invasive here.

Thistles are invasive EVERYwhere. Why Scotland features the thistle on the flag.
"...the Norsemen tried to surprise the sleeping Scottish Clansmen.  ...the Norsemen removed their footwear. But as they crept barefoot they came across .. thistles and one of Haakon’s men unfortunately stood on one and shrieked..."

I like to have A thistle on my land. (Beats porcupines.) But when it dries and goes to seed I burn the stalk and salt the land so it won't spread.

There is an unreasonable number of varieties.

[sluckey]

Bird flowers have bloomed. I think they may be blue berries!   

Robbin flowers

Try again.

[dude]

Bird flowers have bloomed. I think they may be blue berries!   

Robbin flowers

Try again.

Need another pic in two days if they don’t fly the coup

[shooter]

you're on the gulf? pelicans? 


these showed up today, you'll have to ask AI for the name, I just tell the Mrs., "the whitebells are bloom'n"
the

[shooter]

the habitat;
the broad-leaf plant Middle-ground is the buttercups posted previously.  Next up will be the Flags, Iris, the plants are the right size.
sadly had I asked permission, (a must here when working in "wetland") this would still be 20' high, 30' deep brush, thorns, scab-trees, ...an eye sore 

[scstill]

Happy Mother's Day requested hike on tough Los Pinos trail,
So many flowers, everywhere, better than any bouquet.
Love the tree poppy, was everywhere
Hummingbirds love the penstemon

[tdvt]

An extra late spring here in northern VT, even for us. Expecting 20s overnight later this week.

So, not much blooming beyond daffodils & random tulips.

In spite of having a hoop house, temps inside are still dipping below freezing occasionally, so all our tender starts are still in the house-house.

[tdvt]

Big pic files it seems

[shooter]

yep us up Norther's are getting some crazy stuff.  I restarted burning wood for the 3rd time!!  I'm using wood ear-marker for this OCTOBER!!!
we're finally above freezing, but 40 degree nites are still cold!

[PRR]

Here in coastal Maine we plan on frost through today. But this year no frost since mid-April, and then only mild. I have runaway grass already, and only mid-May. (Yeah, I know, the southern boys have been mowing since March.)

Driveway blooms. Patches among the weedy grass. Seem to be 'bluets', but I know we get bluer ones later in the season by the barn and out by the church.

[tdvt]

yep us up Norther's are getting some crazy stuff.  I restarted burning wood for the 3rd time!!  I'm using wood ear-marker for this OCTOBER!!!
we're finally above freezing, but 40 degree nites are still cold!

Ouch!
We also heat primarily with wood, but are still on this years allotment. Cheating with propane this time of year, but I wouldn't rule out a fire or two before real summer.

[shooter]

Ouch!

yep, that's what my body says 
I typically burn 6 full cord a year to help cheat the propane.  If the 2 Ninos' keep messing around the propane might win this year 

[scstill]

This juvenile is guarding the Bommer Canyon trail that I was riding on.
Coiled up after I woke him. Decided to slither off. Good choice.

And some Leymus (wild rye) on the vista

[rake]

Luckily poisonous snakes never seem to appear at our place. We have plenty here in NC but
our place seems to be a perfect habitat for a few large Eastern Black Kingsnakes! To them rattlesnakes
are merely food! Been here almost 30 years and have only seen 1 coral snake. No Eastern diamondbacks
Lots of timbers, pigmy, copperheads and cottonmouths.

[PRR]

...Decided to slither off. And some Leymus (wild rye) on the vista

We get garter snakes. They like to slither under the lawnmower.

I dunno how "wild" but Rye is one of the few grasses that don't die here.

[shooter]

 
yep, the garter snakes don't seem to bright, the Blue-racers however are quite skilled at chasing humans.

[PRR]

Front door shoots:

This asparagus is at least 5 years old. We hardly nibble it any more, it just keeps coming up each spring. We even put down black plastic one year, and it grew through it.

[tdvt]

Cheating with propane this time of year, but I wouldn't rule out a fire or two before real summer.

I hate to quote myself but... lit a fire this afternoon. Looking at lower 20s tonight.

Been watching snow flurries on & off all day.

The better half went & cut as most of her blooming tulips before the cold got them tonight.

[scstill]

Tic Tac Toe Rock and Sticky Monkey bloom
from today's hike in Laguna Coast Wilderness
The monkeys are everywhere, and its advanced TTT

[sluckey]

Keep 'em coming. I feel like I'm getting to know a bit about CA one hike at a time.

[shooter]

looks like the sticky monkeys, petrified themselves a millennia ago.
I'd have a handful of teens at the top of Seneca, 300' rock, 900' above the river.  one of the observant one's would ask, is that a shell? that looks like a plant?, dave....  my canned answer for 10 years "So you were sleeping or skipped out on the Sunday School lesson about Noah???"   

[shooter]

the sticky part of your flower reminded me of a sticky weed we have, IN BLOOM!!!  It's nasty plant, will latch on, has very small barbs, that will cause many lacerations on bare legs, the "hairs are similar to the "sting" you get from cactus.  zoom in and you can see the hairs.


cut my 30 year old 3" dia. concord vine to the dirt, trained up a new shoot last year, it's 3/4" at the base, spans ~ 15'

[Lectroid]

Keep 'em coming. I feel like I'm getting to know a bit about CA one hike at a time.

You're getting to know a bit about what the Spanish called the chaparral--the biome of Southern California's foothills. The rest of the state is much more varied. Wish we had a member hiking through the Humboldt redwoods...

@scstill, yes please keep 'em coming.  I've got your stuff on a rotating screen saver.  Plus, a few more good ones and I can publish my calendar on Etsy.   

[sluckey]

Mockingbirds in the Muscadines...

[scstill]

"Spooky Blooms" from recent hike near Whiting Wilderness in an Edison area
Alien Hatching with a fabulous name (Dude Layla)  a succulent getting ready to flower
Witches Hair (Dodder) is a parasite, unfortunately its everywhere

[scstill]

Some delicate wild sage blooms on a misty hike in Whiting.
Not sure why but first observed for me.
Maybe because wild stuff is small and requires you to seek it.

[PRR]

Front yard blooms. "Lady slipper", a wild orchid; possibly Pink Lady's Slipper Cypripedium acaule. There is another but the camera was not cooperating.

[shooter]

launched the camera, wild roses along the intermittent stream, from130ft, they span about 100' in length, reaching 20' up and growing

[shooter]

Colorado is getting all our rain so we're in sad drought shape here, garden and daisies in my neighbors fallow field

[scstill]

A few local SoCal blooms from this weeks hikin' and bikin'